BOB CHITESTER
Executive Producer
Bob Chitester is founder and president of Free To Choose Network and its production and educational initiatives Free To Choose Media and izzit.org. With more than 40 years of experience creating programs and series for public television and as president of the Erie public television station WQLN, Bob Chitester continues to be creatively involved in the creation of programs and series for Free To Choose Media and izzit.org.
In partnership with his colleague Tom Skinner (senior executive producer at Free To Choose Media) Bob has served as executive producer for The Power of Choice: the Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman (on PBS), The Ultimate Resource (American Public Television), The Power of the Poor (PBS), Globalization at the Crossroads with Hernando de Soto, and Turmoil and Triumph: The George Shultz Years, a three-part documentary series for PBS.
In 1980 Bob Chitester brought Milton Friedman to public television and was responsible as executive producer for Friedman’s landmark PBS series Free To Choose and the best-selling book that emanated from the series. Free or Equal, hosted by Swedish author Johan Norberg, is his latest production — re-examining the impact of Free To Choose more than thirty years later.
Bob Chitester holds BA and MA degrees from The University of Michigan and has received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Allegheny College.
On the personal level, he pursues physical fitness (running, swimming and biking), indulges in wood and clay sculpture, reads poetry publicly, is a hunter and cuts several cord of fire wood each year, when he is not flying about in airplanes as part of his responsibilities at Free To Choose Network. Bob and his wife, Carol, have 4 children and 8 grandchildren, one of whom they are raising in their home.
TOM SKINNER
Executive Editor
Tom Skinner is executive producer of all Free To Choose Media productions.
Tom is an award-winning television and film executive producer, most notably of the National Geographic specials and Planet Earth. He is an experienced innovator and administrator with a solid academic background, and extensive national and international production credentials in public and commercial television.
From 1970 through 1993, Tom Skinner served as vice-president, executive vice-president, and chief operating officer of QED Communications, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1993, he left to pursue opportunities in independent production for A&E, Discovery and Turner Broadcasting. From 1994 through 1999, he was vice president for programming at Resolution Productions.
Prior to his tenure at QED Communications, Tom was assistant manager at WITF-TV in Hershey, Pennsylvania and associate professor of Radio and Television and executive producer at San Diego State University. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including: four national Emmy Awards, two George Foster Peabody Awards, and a Columbia/DuPont Award; and was director of the Academy Award-winning film Journey Into Self.
Tom holds a BA degree in Speech and Education from the State University of New York, Fredonia; an MA in Communications from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Communications and Theatre from The University of Michigan.
Tom is married to Marlis Mann of Leland, Michigan; he has 3 children and 7 grandchildren.
JIM TAYLOR
Director / Director of Photography
Jim Taylor is a founder and partner of Resolution Productions, Inc. and has been in film and video production for over 25 years. He has been the Director of Photography for all of the company's productions, first in 16 and 35 mm film and today in Hi-Def Video.
In 1996, he was the Director of Photography of Battleship, for the Discovery Network, and in 1995 he was the DP for Floating Palaces, a history of the ocean liner, produced for and broadcast on A&E. He was also the DP for a Turner Network documentary, Legends in Light, on the life of Hollywood photographer George Hurrell. Other projects have included California and the Dream Seekers and The Story of Money, both four-hour specials, commissioned by A&E.
His many awards include a Gold C.A.S.E. (Council for the Advancement of Secondary Education) award, a Golden Screen Award for HUD’s Enterprise Zones in America, and first place in the Houston International Film Festival. His cinematography work on the “Pets” series was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Recently he was Director /Director of Photography for Free to Choose Media, on Ultimate Resource, an award winning one-hour special, two documentaries about economist, Hernando de Soto entitled: The Power of the Poor and Globalization at the Crossroads, and most recently Free or Equal, a documentary featuring Johan Norberg.
